


Things Left Unsaid: an analysis of Strickler's redemption arc and where it stops working

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Character Analysis, F/M, Meta, Redemption, redemption arc analysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 21:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17568506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: An analysis of the character of Walter Strickler throughout Trollhunters, his redemption arc, and its flaws with specific regards to his relationship with Barbara Lake.





	Things Left Unsaid: an analysis of Strickler's redemption arc and where it stops working

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I am not arguing that Strickler is a bad character or should never be explored (I feel like that’s pretty much the opposite of combing through most of his appearances and drawing inferences on his character arc based on them, which this pretty much is). My argument is that his portrayal as a redeemed character is flawed and to back up that statement with showing how. That does not mean you cannot still like him or enjoy him if you so wish.
> 
> For the record, I don’t personally hate the character of Strickler. I think he had a lot of potential as a morally ambiguous character (and do have interest in him as such), but it was never fully realized in Trollhunters. What we got instead was a character whose conflicts were never really addressed or resolved. The fact that he is then presented as romantic when his actions generally say otherwise is the brunt of what bothers me about his portrayal.
> 
> Link to source on Redemption Arcs: mythcreants.com/blog/crafting-a-redemption-arc-for-your-villain/

In _Trollhunters_ , the character of Walter Strickler moves from being an antagonist in Season 1 (S1) to an ally of the protagonist in Season 3 (S3).This conveys the intention on part of the shows’ writers that Strickler was supposed to go through a redemptive character arc.To an extent, he did.However, by S3, his redemption arc falters and falls.A few crucial steps of the redemption process were skipped in his portrayal.The result was a character who did not truly complete the character growth opened for him in S1.Despite appearing as such, Strickler was not fully redeemed by the end of _Trollhunters_ Season 3.He is an attempted redeemed villain by that time, but one that never completely makes it there.

According to the breakdown of redemption arcs I linked above, there are three types; Sacrifice, Temptation, and Forgiveness.Sacrifice involves arcs where a character makes a heroic sacrifice at the end of the arc.Temptation is described as an arc where a character wavers between the good or bad sides.Finally, Forgiveness, when a character has already become good and seeks further resolution with other characters.

Strickler’s arc, as shown onscreen, aligns most with the Temptation-type of redemption arc.After his initial introduction, he wavers between being on the side of Gunmar and the Janus Order or Jim and the trolls.He does not, in _Trollhunters_ , make a significant sacrifice at the end of his arc.He is never at the stage where a forgiveness arc starts (already having sought redemption, now seeking to make further amends) either.

The breakdown I linked further outlines a series of stages redemption arcs generally go through.I will be using them as a structure to analyze Strickler’s arc in this analysis.

The first stage, quite simply, is establishing the villain as a villain.For Strickler, this happens at the very beginning of _Trollhunters_ , when he’s revealed to be a changeling and working alongside Bular to rebuild the Killahead Bridge and release Gunmar.We, the viewers, know by the end of the first two episodes that Bular is in direct opposition to our protagonist, Jim.So, by his presented association with Bular, we recognize Strickler as one of the villains as well.His later actions, such as attacking Jim in “Recipe for Disaster” and fighting against him in “The Battle of Two Bridges”, cements his starting position as a villain.

The next stage of a temptation redemption arc, is to give the villain a good influence, something that “inspires change from within”.Without a doubt, this is Barbara in the second half of S1.Barbara, above even Jim, is the reason why Strickler starts doubting what he does.This is most apparent in “Roaming Fees May Apply”, specifically in the scene where he puts the binding spell in her tea.For a moment, Strickler hesitates.It’s not much, and he still goes through with the enchantment, but it’s a start.Strickler is not as certain in his actions as he started out.

Strickler’s meetings with Barbara and his growing relationship with her are what start to shift his loyalties.He wants to spend time with her.She becomes a new motivation for him over his old ones of world domination.To a certain extent, at least.

However Strickler is not fully redeemed just because he has something other than villainy to motivate him.He has a good start here in S1 and his redemption arc flows both well and naturally so far, but he’s barely even begun. 

According to the breakdown, these next stages are vital for temptation redemption arcs, but they are given the weakest onscreen portrayal in Strickler’s arc.Subsequently, this is where things start to go downhill in terms of the strength of Strickler’s character development and overall arc.

“Switching sides for selfish reasons” is the last stage that Strickler’s arc definitively follows.The first time that Strickler truly joins forces with the “good side” (Jim and his allies) is in “Angor Management”.After the Inferna Copula gets destroyed in “It’s About Time” and he realizes Angor wants to kill him and he’s on his own (given Otto Scaarbach and Fragwa abandon him in “Wingmen”), Strickler goes to Jim for help and protection.They end up fighting together against Angor Rot.This fits the “switching sides for selfish reasons” stage to a tee.The reason Strickler joins Jim’s side is for his own self-preservation.He doesn’t want to die, and Jim is his best ally in that goal.

After this comes the “villain is unhappy in Team Good” stage.Arguably, Strickler leaving at the end of S1, before the final battle with Angor Rot, is this part of the redemption arc for him, but it’s a weak connection.Due to the closeness in time between the events of “Angor Management”, “A Night To Remember”, and “Something Rotten This Way Comes”, Strickler never completely transitions out of “switching sides for selfish reasons” to being fully on the good side before his departure.He makes progress, like agreeing to break the binding spell to save Barbara and giving Jim the third Triumbric stone, but these actions come with the connotations of him having ulterior motives.The first happens only after he receives assurance from Jim that he will not be harmed by the trolls once they no longer have his link to Barbara to stop them.The second, as stated by himself, he withheld in case Jim “drove a hard bargain to protect (him)”.

The only action Strickler does in these episodes that is not affected by selfish gain on his part is show Jim where to cut Angor’s eye so he can use it in the amulet.Though Strickler has nothing to gain or lose personally here, so it should be regarded as slightly different from the previous two examples.

Strickler’s actions are mainly, therefore, still defined by doing good for selfish reasons.If he were truly doing good for its own sake, he would not present additional conditions when his help is desperately needed nor withhold a valuable resource until he no longer has significant use for it. 

Next, rather than try to convince Jim and the trolls to trust him or allow him to join the fight against Angor Rot, Strickler leaves without much fuss.On the one hand, this is a good moment for him.A moment where he recognizes the other characters have strong, oppositional feelings toward him, understands those feelings, and respects them (by giving them space).On the other, it establishes he never truly joined the good side before the end of S1 and, subsequently, never entered the “unhappy on Team Good” stage of his redemption arc.One cannot be unhappy being in what one never was a part of, after all.Strickler is then left on shaky ground for the next stages.

* * *

_*I’m skipping over S2 in this analysis.Strickler only appears in one of the last scenes of the last episode, which sets up his return in the third season, but offers no further development for his character.Yes, his return is arguably a moment of character growth, but it is one not fully realized until S3._

* * *

 

Strickler’s redemption arc effectively starts deteriorating when we first meet him in S3.Rather than try to make up the lost ground on the unhappiness with good stage, the writers push his narrative into jumping over it into the next stages.Except we never see the next two stages happen onscreen either.They are a _return to villainy_ and _unhappiness with villainy_ respectively.

Strickler’s opening in S3 is him secretly training Jim in the sewers in “Bad Coffee”.This aligns him with the protagonist, with being good, right off the bat.Therefore, any personal struggle on which side _morally_ he should be on is never truly shown onscreen.Theoretically, it happens while he was away in S2, but since it’s not shown, it’s not technically part of the story.

So, the biggest stages of a temptation redemption arc, the internal struggle of trying to be a better person (if only for selfish reasons), giving up, going back to their old ways, but realizing they don’t want to be their old self either, so trying again (this time genuinely), is skipped over with Strickler.He is never shown grappling between the good/bad sides or with old bad habits in S3.

He has a moment of self-disclosure in “Bad Coffee” to Jim, but it is not him struggling with which side of the war he should be on.Even under the influence of Grave Sand, he’s chosen to oppose Gunmar, which aligns him with being good (even if he’s not completely on that side).

What’s notable is what he reveals in his conversation with Jim in this episode.Firstly, he believes Jim to be too weak to walk away from a fight with Gunmar.Though, whether or not this is a genuine feeling on his part is debatable, considering he’s under the influence of what’s a powerful drug in-universe there.However, this is a fairly good moment of personal struggle with redemption for him.Not being certain that’s he’s made the right choice and doubting it.

And then, a moment later, we come to the thing that will repeatedly screech any and all further character development for Strickler to a halt.

Barbara.

Strickler’s return, as revealed in his next dialogue, is not because he’s chosen redemption or seeking resolution with Jim (or Barbara or literally anyone else), but because he wants to protect Barbara.And he wants to protect Barbara because he, personally, cares for her.

Strickler does get a genuine moment where he seems surprised that someone can care for him when Jim lies to him about Barbara’s feelings to get him to come back to his senses.It doesn’t excuse his later actions, but it does give a momentary, deeper look into his character.Strickler is someone who feels no one can love him.The idea that someone _does_ love him sways his decision-making process.It gives him a kind of hope.

His caring for Barbara could have, once again, become a catalyst for him to turn to a path of redemption now that he’s back.However, as it stands in its portrayal, it’s only a shift between him giving up his old selfish wants (self-preservation, world domination) to his new selfish want (to have Barbara).

Strickler never changes the way he thinks or acts from here on out in _Trollhunters_.He just changes the thing both his thinking and acting are directed towards.

Most everything Strickler does after this, he does because he wants Barbara and his end goal is to have her.Not because he wants to genuinely become a better person or make things right for his past transgressions.His redemption arc completely halts.

We see this most clearly in his doorway apology scene in “So I’m Dating A Sorceress”.Strickler has the opportunity here to start to make amends, but instead he makes it about his desires.

The scene goes like this:

* * *

_After Barbara answers the door and Strickler’s there,_

_in an unbelieving tone, Barbara: Walt?_

_Strickler: “Barbara.I’m not sure what exactly came over me, but I woke up, and had to see you.”_

_Barbara starts to close the door._

_Walter stops her.“I know it’s been a long time!(sighs)I know I ran off unexpectedly.And I don’t know where I found the courage to knock on your—”_

_Barbara slams the door._

* * *

Strickler does sound genuine here.He does recognize some of what he did wrong (going off his tone).Apologies can be hard, so it’s not bad writing that they have him struggle with it.

The issue, that deepens with his actions in later episodes, is with his first and last lines.He frames their conversation to be about him and his feelings instead of addressing how his actions have affected her.He makes it about him ‘having to see her’ and about him ‘not knowing how he got the courage to come and see her’ rather than what she may be feeling about him randomly (from her perspective) appearing on her doorstep after a long absence.He stops her from closing the door, a sign she doesn’t want to see him, because _he_ wants to see her.

In “The Exorcism of Claire Nunez”, Strickler does show some growth right before Morgana transforms into Barbara.Him “choosing to believe there’s a better way” is slight development from his stance of hopelessness in “Bad Coffee”.The fact he’s helping with the situation without making demands too adds to this.If focused on more, small moments like this would have broken the stagnation his character has reached and furthered him towards redemption. 

Except, this moment of insight on his character is swept aside by Morgana transforming into Barbara to tempt Strickler with the offer of ‘if he closes the portal, she’ll give him Barbara’s heart’.Effectively, bringing Strickler’s character back to a state of desiring Barbara is most important for his development.

Strickler responds first with “she’s done with me”, which, again, frames their relationship entirely around himself, and not the fact that Morgana twisting Barbara’s heart is itself a wrong action that would violate Barbara’s agency. 

His eventual line of “I’ve come to learn that a stolen heart…is never truly yours” is a good line of development for him.But it’s also at the basic level of “forcing someone to be with you does not actually make them care for you and also it’s a bad thing to do.”

It is a nice starting place for his character to recognize Barbara as a person (with boundaries), but it should certainly not be the end.Every interaction he has with Barbara, from here on out, should have been about him continuing to learn to respect her.He can struggle with that, as he does have a lot to figure out there, but overall we should have seen him improve.We do not.

* * *

_As a side note on this specific scene, it does not actually count as an interaction with Barbara herself, as Barbara is never actually there.Morgana has just stolen her appearance.As far as Barbara’s concerned, nothing has changed between her and Strickler.It develops nothing for their relationship itself.Only for Strickler._

* * *

 Strickler’s next actual interaction with Barbara is in “The Oath”.It fails to build on the idea of him respecting her.They’re both with the rest of the parents waiting for Jim and the others to return from Merlin’s tomb.Strickler tells the story of his and Jim’s fight back in “Recipe for Disaster” to the parents in a way that he intend for it to be humorous.Barbara is clearly upset by this.Strickler makes a face that does show some remorse, but only after Barbara states “he tried to kill my son”, indicating her distress, and he glances around to see that the others are feelingly similarly bad.

In “For The Glory of Merlin”, when Barbara goes to make herself popcorn and have a minute alone, he walks in on her, she turns her back and tells him, “he’s the last person she wants to talk to”, and he continues on anyway.

Throughout these interactions there’s a pattern.What little character development Strickler gets generally quickly gets cast aside in favor of pushing Stricklake.The Stricklake interactions then have Strickler regularly pushing up against Barbara’s boundaries, her expressing some level of discomfort at that, and him glazing over her discomfort to continue on anyway.

None of these things give further Strickler’s redemption arc.For pretty much all of S3, he stays on the same stage (back to the ‘doing good for selfish reasons’ bit from the beginning of this very long analysis), which is why I haven’t touched on the last two stages, _the villain must stop a great evil_ and/or _the villain makes a great sacrifice._

Strickler had a chance to stop a great evil, when he and Barbara are captured and he’s being forced to use the Staff of Avalon to free Morgana.He chose to free the sorceress if it meant Barbara would be spared instead.A sacrifice for him would have been to give up Barbara and refuse to free Morgana, but he doesn’t do that either.

In Season 1, Strickler starts out on a redemption arc.However, by the time he reaches Season 3, he’s stagnated and he never concludes the arc.

His love for Barbara doesn’t make him fully redeemed.It could have been.He could have decided to try and be a better person because he loves her and wants to be good for her, but he doesn’t.He consistently pushes her boundaries and only sees her through the lens of something he wants himself.

 


End file.
